Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the Gospel of John chapter 16. John 16. When the Holy Spirit of God moves
in power and grace, and mercy. There is an evidence of that
grace. There always is. It's not miracles. That's not
the evidence of the Spirit of God moving upon a person in power. It's not Speaking in
tongues, it's not... 1 Corinthians... Now, let's listen
to this. 1 Corinthians 14.22 says this, Wherefore tongues
are for a sign not to them that believeth, but to them that believe
not. Now, you know, you think about
that. as people put all their hope in being able to speak in
some kind of gibberish. That's not what the apostles
did on the day of Pentecost. They spoke with other tongues,
they spoke in languages that other people knew that were really
languages that they had never known, that they had never learned.
They were speaking in the languages of those that were there that
day. The apostles, early preachers, were
given the gift, not all of them, but the gift to be able to preach.
Paul said, I preach in more tongues than you all, any of you. Paul was blessed by the Spirit
of God to be able to preach in languages that he had never learned. But that's not the evidence of
the Spirit of God moving in power and regenerating a person by
grace. Those things are done away with.
Why? We have the Word of God. God's Word is our our instructor,
our guide, our direction, our evidence of life. I'll tell you
what a believer desires. The rest of that verse, 1 Corinthians
14, 22, the latter part says, but prophesying serveth not for them that believe
not, but for them which believe. You know what a believer wants?
A believer wants to hear. the preaching of the gospel of
God's free grace. A believer is not here today
to be dazzled by some kind of silliness. There's so much silliness
and frivolity in this world. A believer wants to hear the
gospel of God's saving sovereign grace. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
Lord, and we dealt with this last time, our Lord said, this
is how you're going to know. If you want to know how Almighty
God reveals Himself to and in a sinner, here's how it is. John 16, verse 8, when He has
come, He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and
judgment. When He comes, He's going to
convince a sinner. Here's how you want to know if
a person has truly been converted. Number one, they know and they're
convinced in their heart that they are a sinner by nature before
God Almighty and have no ability whatsoever, none, to do any work
of righteousness to reconcile themselves back before God. They're
convinced of sin. Oh, wretched man that I am. Secondly, they're convinced of
righteousness. That is, in himself. I have no
desire. I have no ability. I have no
work that I can perform that God Almighty is going to accept. The only righteousness that I
have is unrighteousness. And then thirdly, he's going
to be convinced of this. He's going to be convinced of
judgment. That is that the Lord Jesus Christ alone, Jesus of
Nazareth, has at the cross for me. That judgment was spewed
out upon Christ for me, not in general. I know He died, but
did He die for me? Now that's the issue. Did He
die for this sinner? Did He satisfy the law for this
sinner? Has the law been honored Has
justice been satisfied for me? When He's come, He's going to
convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And do you know,
until a person is converted, they don't know that. They have
no idea what Almighty God has done at Calvary. There's going
to be a growing in grace They're going to learn. They're going
to be convinced of some things. But the reason that we come back
and come back and come back is because we need to hear. We need
to be taught. We need to sit under the sound
of the gospel. Well, now the Lord Jesus Christ,
here's where we're going to pick up in verses 12 and 13. He's going to continue. He's getting ready to go to the
cross. And He's teaching graciously,
mercifully, kindly, compassionately His disciples. And He's going
to tell them of their need. They have a need to know some
things, but He's going to tell them of their inability to be
able to hear the things completely right now. Look at verse 12.
He says, I have yet many things to say unto you. But you cannot
bear them now. There were some things that they
were going to have to be taught. Taught by the Holy Spirit of
God, but obviously there were going to have to be things that
they were going to have to be taught after his death and his
burial and his resurrection. The scripture says Mark 4.33,
and with many such parables spake he the word unto them as they
were able to hear it. He had told them of his death.
He told them, he said, I'm going to die. He told them of his crucifixion. And they didn't understand it. Now look at verse 17. We're not
there yet, but just look. He's told them, look at verse
16. A little while and you shall
not see me. Again, a little while you shall see me because I go
to the Father. Now he told them that. He told
them that before. But look, then said some of his
disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us? A little while, and ye shall
not see me again. A little while, and ye shall
see me. Behold, because I go to the Father. And they said,
therefore, what is this that he saith? A little while. We
cannot tell what he saith. They didn't understand. You know
why? Because the Comforter had not come. The Spirit of God had not taught
them. He told them of His death and His burial and His resurrection. But to show you, when He told
them in verse 12, I have yet many things to say unto you,
but you cannot bear them now. You can't handle them now. But
I want you just to hold your plate. Turn over to Acts 2. He
told them, He told them, this is what's going to happen. I'm
going to die. I'm going to be buried. I'm going
to go back to my father. And they said, I don't understand. But after
Pentecost, when the Comforter came and the Comforter indwelt
them and taught them things that they could handle now. Look at
Acts 2 verse 22-24. Now listen to the difference.
It didn't understand at first. I said, I don't even know what
you mean. But listen to the difference when the Spirit of God teaches
a man, teaches a woman. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst
of you, as yourselves also know. Him, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. Now, let me ask you something.
Was there a difference in the way that they understood and
expressed? The Lord told them back in John
16, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot
bear them now. Oh, they would. They would. The only reason that you that
believe know anything. It's because the Spirit of God
has convinced you of it. Before God Almighty called you
out of sin, many of you came up listening to Brother Scott.
And you heard him preach. And you heard him tell you of
man's depravity. And as you were growing up, how
much of that did you really know? You should know anything. But
when the Spirit of God moved upon you and taught you, convinced
you of sin, convinced you of righteousness, that you didn't
have any, and all was His, of judgment, that He'd put away
the guilt of His people, then you were convinced. I have many
things to say. You know, the Lord was so plain.
Why could they not understand? Why could they not hear what
He was saying before? Well, it's because of the Spirit
of God. But let me ask you this. How
much are we being told right now of what the Lord is doing
in this world? How much do we understand right
now? We see through a glass darkly now. He's told us, I go to prepare
a place for you. In my father's house are many
mansions. Tell me how much you know about that. You see what
I'm saying? I have many things yet to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now. One of these days,
we'll see him face to face. Now, just in my wildest ability,
I hear those words, I read those words, and Carl, I cannot understand
them. I see through a glass darkly. We'll see Him face to face. We'll
know Him and we'll know as we're known. You say, can you explain
that to me? We will know as we're known? What do you think the Lord knows
of us? We will know. How about this one? We'll be like Him. These things are too high for
me. I understand. By faith, I understand. Eye hath
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man. I've never thought, oh, heaven's going to be just
so and so. You don't even know what heaven's going to be. New heaven, new earth, I have
yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.
How be it, verse 13, how be it when He, the Spirit of truth,
is come, He will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak
of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak,
and he will show you things to come." I think of the Lord speaking
of the Spirit of God coming and moving upon His people in power. And how when we speak of the
blessed Holy Spirit, at this glorious, blessed Spirit. God Himself actually moves upon
us, teaches us. I jotted down a few things concerning
the Spirit of God. How be it when He, the Spirit
of Truth, is come? Who is He? Number one, I know
He's the one that quickens God's people. John 3, 6 said, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. Almighty God moves upon His elect,
upon His people, upon His chosen, upon the bride of Christ, upon
His church. He moves upon her and creates
life in her. There's a new man. I'm going to give you a new heart,
a new will. The old will, I don't have a
will for God. But I'm going to give you a new
heart, a new spirit. I'll be your God, you'll be my
people, and you'll know it. Who is He? He's the quickening
God. Secondly, He indwells the regenerated
saint. 1 Corinthians 6.19, what? Know you not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have
of God, and you're not your own? Almighty God, who has revealed
to His people through His Word, who's taught them by the Spirit
of God, that the Spirit of God indwells them. Everything that
I see of myself, is wretched and unbelieving. Paul says under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, do you not know that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? Number three,
the Holy Spirit is the one that reveals that God Almighty has
eternally loved his people. Now, I can read that back in
Jeremiah 3. I can read that. I've loved you
with an everlasting love. But when I have been taught that,
and I want to enter into that, I want to... Lord, that you've
everlastingly loved me And I'll be honest with you, I try to
enter into the thought of that, and I'm lost. That Almighty God
would love me, having known me and chosen me and gave me to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this Romans 5, 5. And
hope maketh not a shame. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. It's only by the Spirit of God
that we even know that Almighty God loves His people. That He would reveal unto us,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have hated. How do you know that?
The Spirit of God taught us. Fourthly, He's the one that leads
and guides and directs, Romans 8, 14. For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. How does He
lead? Through His Word, through that
powerful constraining of our hearts. I said last Wednesday
night, you know, people say, well, if I believed what you
believe, and all things are ordered, and God has ordained all things,
and He knows the end from the beginning, and all things work
together for good. And if I believe that, well,
you know, I just do whatever I want to do. Believers do. They
do. Believers want to love Him. I want to be faithful. I want
to serve Him. I want my walk to be consistent
before Him. And I know this by the revelation
of God's Spirit, I can put no credence whatsoever in anything
that I've ever done. Everything that I've ever done,
I can look at it, I can say, oh, wretched man that I am. But
I can tell you this, I want to. I want to be faithful. I want
to love you. I want to be faithful to this congregation as a pastor.
I want to study. I want to ask the Lord's guidance
and directions. I want to call your names before
God. I want to and strive to. I want to pray for one another.
I want us all to be. Fifthly, the Spirit of God, He
assures us of our sonship. I need to be taught. I need to
be assured. Romans 8.16, the Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
He set forth in His scriptures the credentials, the evidence
of God's Spirit. They believe God. They want to
follow after Christ. The Spirit Himself beareth witness
with our spirit. It's not because I've walked
down the aisle and I've, you know, it's not because I've,
whatever. I'll tell you what it is. He's
given me a heart to believe in. Sixthly, He sustains us. in our
weakness to pray. Now, buddy, I'm going to tell
you something. I've mentioned this before, but I'm telling you, you that
believe know what I'm talking about. Number one, believers
pray. Believers pray. A believer prays
and when you pray, Romans 8.26 says, likewise the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought. You try to pray. You don't know
what to ask for. You don't know what God's will
is. As you begin to pray or you try to pray, you'll find yourself
struggling and wandering. You'll find yourself asking the
Lord to forgive you for your waywardness of thought. How many
times have I thought this trying to pray? Lord, I brought this
up so many times because I think it so many times. Lord, if you
mark iniquity. Lord, if you marked iniquity,
you'd put me in hell. for the very prayer that I just
tried to pray. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings, with sighings, a sigh, being in a strait. He helpeth
our infirmities, making intercession for us, with sighings and being
in a straight, S-T-R-A-I-T, which cannot be spoken, uttered. I know, really, truthfully, I
was going to say I know so little about prayer. I don't know anything
about it. I try. I want to. I want to seek
the Lord. I try, but I think to myself,
Lord, you've told me. We don't even know what to pray
for. Thanks be unto God that He gives
us His Holy Spirit and makes intercession for us. And then
these prayers that are taken in the Lord Jesus Christ, Revelation
5 says, as He, the angel with the censure, much censure, as
He presents with the merit of His own precious blood, intercession,
He takes the prayers of the saints, that the Spirit of God has helped
in our intercession, because we don't know what to pray for.
and He presents them to the Father before the throne, and they're
accepted, based totally upon the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Boy, you know, the more we know
about what we are, fallen in Adam, we're pitiful creatures,
aren't we? Helpless man by nature, he thinks
himself so, you know, Makes you somebody. I'm telling you, we're
nothing. We're nothing. I was listening
to a message. I told Glenda this morning, I
was listening to a message yesterday, the day before yesterday. Brother
Henry was preaching. And he was talking about one
of his granddaughters that came up to him. And Henry said, he
said, we were in Crossville. He said, the granddaughter came
up and she says, I want you to come over here and see these
pigs over here. I want you to come with me, come
look at these pigs. But when you get over there,
you're going to have to hold your nose, because they stink. Henry said,
I'm going to tell you about what God has to say about man by nature. But he said, you're going to
have to hold your nose, because we stink. Oh, the blessed Spirit
of God, seventh, He seals us unto the day of redemption. It's
what Ephesians 4.30 said, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Grieving the Spirit
of God, I'm telling you, is set forth most realistically when
there's not harmony among the brethren. That's grieving the
Spirit of God. I mean, have you ever done anything
to please the Spirit of God? Well, how are you going to grieve
Him? I mean, if you think that sometimes I do and sometimes
I don't grieve Him, grieve not the Spirit of God with disunity
among the brethren. Who can tell the depths of the
glorious blessing of God's gift to His people? His blessed Holy
Spirit. The Lord said in verse 13, How
be it when He The Spirit of Truth has come. He'll guide you into
all truth. He shall not speak of Himself,
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak. He'll show
you things to come. When He's come, and obviously
in power, permanency, He came at penny cost, dwelling His people. When He's come, He'll guide you
into all truth. We need to be shown the way. We need to be taught the truth.
And as our teacher, the Holy Spirit of God takes the Word
of God as it's preached. And when He's pleased to do so,
He powerfully takes this gospel that Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of. That we preach and proclaim and we desire to hear. And he
takes it and he removes the grave clothes of prejudice, unbelief. He dethrones that old stony heart,
that old rebellious heart. Beheaded, I've told you. Removes
the power of it to dominate. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. Until a man or woman is called
out of darkness, I'm telling you, sin rules. Satan rules. Captive in a strong
man, but when a strong man, one stronger than the strong man,
comes in, binds you, takes captivity, takes it captive, you're mine. I love you. I've always loved
you. I chose you. Christ redeemed you. Spirit of
God teaches you, seals you. When He, the Spirit of Truth. There is a spirit of error. 1
John 4, 6. There's a spirit of error. It's
false gospel. If any man preach any of the
gospel, look at 1 John. 4.6 where I read this, We are
of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. Do you want to know how you can
tell a believer he believes the gospel of God's free grace? Is
there any other message? I've said, you know the answer
to this. Is there any other message besides sovereign grace? God's electing, predestinating,
redeeming, quickening, regenerating, preserving grace. Is there any
other message that God blesses to the salvation of His elect?
No. No. If you believe that you were
converted under Arminian, free will, man-centered, works religion,
and you've just come to a higher knowledge of, you know, you were
not converted, I'm telling you. If the Lord's converted you,
you were converted under the sound of the gospel. You were
not converted under a lie. I prove that. Romans 1.16. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It. is the power of God and salvation
to everyone that believeth. When He, the Spirit of Truth
has come, He'll guide you into all truth. He'll not speak of
Himself. That is apart from agreement with the Father and the Son.
He'll not speak of Himself. What the Spirit of God says is
what almighty God the Father says, what Christ says, they're
in agreement. But whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak. Boy, I tell you, there were some
marvelously wonderful, secretive things which obviously were known
and spoken in the eternal counsels of God's covenant of free grace. Things that only God knows. Things
that God must declare. And these things that the three
persons of Godhead agreed upon. And I'm speaking as a man. I
don't know any other way to say it. Almighty God whose purpose
shall always be done. That which God Almighty willed
concerning the redemption and salvation of God's elect. All
of these things. established eternally, eternally. And these things as Almighty
God is pleased to have them revealed. The Lord says He's going to guide
you into all truth, He's not going to speak for Himself, but
whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak. And He will show
you things to come. Now right now, the Holy Spirit
in a glorious way, the Spirit of the Godhead. We talk about
the first person, second person, third person. Let me just say
this, God, His Holy Spirit, One who is the author of the Scriptures,
all Scriptures, 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture. given by inspiration
of God. 2 Peter 1.21 says, For the prophecy
came not in old time, or at any time, by the will of man, but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Old Testament, New Testament.
You say, well those were just written by men. God was pleased
to use the hand of a man. I'll guarantee you that. They
were penned by men, but the scriptures declare that these scriptures
were given and breathed by God's Spirit to God's people to teach them. According to scripture, these
things that he had heard, that's what he spoke. And that's what
he teaches us. He said he'll show you things
to come. Through the scriptures that were
set forth from the beginning to the end, And when it pleases
God, He's gonna teach us things then. But for right now, the
light that we have right now, the Spirit of God has been pleased
to teach us and we walk in that light and readily admit, Lord,
you're God and there's none else. Lord, you keep, keep me. Lord, you teach, teach me. Lord, you're the great physician.
Heal me. Only believer says heal my soul. Lord, you're the God
of all grace. Forgive me for Christ's sake. Amen. All right.